If ever
a car was a slightly difficult one to justify, it’s the Hyundai Genesis. It’s a name and
model new to Europe (though not to the USA and Australia), in a market segment
we’re not used to seeing a Hyundai
in. And a price bracket. Because this is a Hyundai that costs the thick
end of fifty grand.
What exactly is the Hyundai Genesis?
A near
five metre-long four-door, five-seat luxury saloon. It’s a well-established
model in the United States – this new car is actually the second-generation
version. This time it’s been adapted for limited sales in Europe, including
this right-hand drive UK-spec model.
Being a
car developed with the US in mind, there’s no diesel option, which rather
hobbles the car’s sales potential from the outset on these shores. Instead
there’s one 3.8-litre petrol V6 engine, and one specification level packed with
plenty of bells and whistles.
Is it suitably luxurious inside, then?
Yes and
no. There’s perforated leather aplenty, wood veneer on the dash and aluminium
on the centre console, and soft-touch plastics everywhere else. It’s all put
together nicely too, with top-notch fit, finish and overall quality (apart from
a passenger seat backrest that got a bit wobbly on bumpier sections of road).
Main
problem is the switchgear and controls, the majority of which are lifted
straight from various, more humble Hyundai and Kia products.
There’s nothing wrong with the way they work or feel, they just look a bit
low-rent. Same deal with the central multimedia screen, recognisable from the
likes of the Kia Soul. And in a market that’s all about snobbery, that simply
won’t do.
That
screen can be operated remotely from the rear seats if you fold down the hidden
console in the centre of the seat backs. Rear passengers also get a bank of
controls to recline their heated, ventilated seats and also tilt and slide the
front passenger seat out of the way for truly epic legroom. Mind you, a Skoda
Superb has that function too. And that doesn’t cost $48k.
What’s the Hyundai Genesis like to drive?
An
authentically wafty luxobarge. The air suspension has two settings – soft and
softer – and handling is at the wallowy end of the scale as a result. Which is
fine – it’s a car built for comfort, after all, and ride quality is as pillowy
as you’d hope. Other large saloons from the likes of Jaguar and the usual
premium-brand German suspects manage a better ride/handling trade-off, however.
Refinement’s
good. There’s very little intrusion from the 3.8-litre V6, even when it’s working
reasonably hard. With 311bhp and 293lb ft the Genesis can move quickly
when it has to, but with a kerb weight not far off the two-tonne mark it never
feels particularly comfortable doing so.
The eight-speed automatic transmission is smooth enough, if occasionally
dozy on downshifts.
What’s the business case behind the Hyundai
Genesis?
Hyundai UK has an admirably
rational attitude towards what, from the outside looking in, can appear a
slightly irrational car. In fact, it’s probably better to think of the Genesis less as a car and more
as a statement.
Hyundai freely, and
cheerfully, admits hardly anyone in the UK will buy one, estimating (perhaps
optimistically) sales of around 60 cars this year. What it does hope, however,
is that the Genesis will broaden
people’s conceptions of the kind of cars it makes – another side of the coin
from the value-oriented, scrappage scheme-profiting models the brand’s
generally associated with.
They
would have liked to sold the Genesis with a
diesel engine in the UK rather than the thirsty, high-CO2 petrol V6 it’s stuck
with, but as a car designed and engineered for the USA first and Europe second,
it wasn’t possible. It’s being sold in only seven of Hyundai’s 150 or so
dealers across the country, too.
The Genesis is
also a starting point for equipment to filter further down the food chain – a
head-up display, electrically-cooled seats, all-round camera monitors and the
like appear here first, but will migrate to lowlier Hyundais before long.
Verdict
Should
you consider buying one? Don’t be silly. Leave that to the few eccentrics who
really must have something different. But think of the Genesis as an early
step towards a more premium kind of Hyundai.
Or, if
you’re on the lookout for a particularly brave second-hand buy in a couple of
years’ time, you could take advantage of the no-doubt near-vertical
depreciation curve. It would be a lot of car for the money. If you can find
one. And afford the crushing CO2 tax costs.
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